Hi again. I know this has been posted over.and over.and over. But I've got a cambodian over here that seems maleish, although I was told it was a female. This is a giant HMPK.

First question: can females have beards? This fish has one, dark red, same color as her fins. It's also prominent without flaring. I can't get her to flare. Also, there are no ventrals on this one to help me. AAARGH!

Second question: her anal fin is larger than her sisters'. She's only 12 weeks old, and I think it is going to grow out more. The other females I have show a short, knife-blade like anal fin. Hers is more flowing, reaching more than half of her tail.

Third question: Do giants take longer to grow up? These guys are 12 weeks and I still don't know the gender on this one. I didn't know my Sassy was a boy until his anal fin grew to be huge, which didn't happen until I isolated him.

In the meantime I've isolated this fish and am watching.

Soon, I'm going to stop spamming this place. Really. I just have so many questions with these babies, they are driving me crazy. But I have to admit it's kinda fun, raising little bettas!

EDIT: Photo 1: the beard
Photo 2: the fins, and some internal organs in the light

I have to say to me he/she looks female, we would have a better idea if you could get a picture with the gills flared so we could see the beard, but in my opinion even for a HMPK the fins are too short to be a boy, I'm sure a more experienced member will be along to help soon :)

No, I didn't breed her. She came to me this way, no ventrals. I know why it happens (I totally had to post here to figure it out lol). Strangely enough, many of her siblings have perfectly formed ventrals, and some have none/deformed ones.

She does look girly if I evaluate the photos. But, her fins, although short, are longer than her sisters' fins, and pointier, if that makes sense. I will take more photos tomorrow and post them too.

It really doesn't matter what gender she is, since I'm not breeding anybody and this is one fish that I'm keeping (this is Zebra, and I'm keeping Sassypants too). Gender determination in these guys has been constantly annoying me since I got them 2.5 weeks ago. I just wanna know already! Like a puzzle I can't solve.

Looks female to me though it would be much easier to tell with ventrals. Can you see an egg spot?
Also not flaring is a good indication that its female, but the age and never having been seperated could also be a factor in that.

Try to isolate her for a day without any fish in sight.
The next day,let her see another smaller sibling or any smaller betta.When she flares,take a picture.This method helps me take pictures without wasting time.
And she looks like a female to me too.

First question: can females have beards? Yes, but they are usually smaller than male's beard.

Second question: her anal fin is larger than her sisters'. She's only 12 weeks old, and I think it is going to grow out more. The other females I have show a short, knife-blade like anal fin. Hers is more flowing, reaching more than half of her tail. The fins looks small/short, implying it's a female. But if sister's are even shorter, this might be a male. You need to look at the overall form. Try viewing from above, males look slimmer with big heads while females looks as if they have smaller heads and bigger in the belly area.

Third question: Do giants take longer to grow up? These guys are 12 weeks and I still don't know the gender on this one. I didn't know my Sassy was a boy until his anal fin grew to be huge, which didn't happen until I isolated him.What do you mean? Longer to show gender? As far as I know they grow much faster thus usually show signs of gender sooner. I read that they grow more length wise during the odd months and more form wise during even months. But I can't really say if this is true or not.